Electronic displays are provided in many contexts to electronically render digital information to a viewer. The electronic displays receive information, and render the information through lighted cells in patterns that reflect the texts and pictures employed to convey the information.
Various electronic technology and semiconductor concepts are employed to implement electronic displays. One such concept is a thin-film transistor (TFT) liquid crystal display (LCD) device. These devices are employed in various contexts, such as computing devices, televisions, mobile devices, and more commonly, in vehicle-based display implementations (such as instrument clusters and infotainment systems).
FIG. 1 illustrates a side-view of an exemplary TFT LCD 100. FIG. 2 illustrates the same side-view of the TFT LCD 100 with an explanatory diagram illustrating various effects associated with illuminating the TFT LCD 100 with a light 200 generated from a backlight 110.
The TFT LCD 100 is shown without a housing for illustrative purposes. The TFT LCD 100 is coupled to a backlight source 110 (not shown). The backlight 110 provides light 200 that is either propagated through (or not allowed to propagate through) based on the pattern chosen by a processor coupled to, and configured to drive the TFT LCD 100.
The first layer physically closest to the backlight 110 is a rear polarizer 120. The rear polarizer 120 is provided to polarize the light 200 so as to prepare the light 200 to be receivable by the liquid crystal layer 150. As shown in FIG. 2, as light 200 propagates through the rear polarizer 120 (at point 201), the light 200 signal strength is reduced by 50% (to create light 210). The TFT LCD 100 also includes a glass layer 130, physically disposed on the rear polarizer 120, and in between the rear polarizer 120 and a color filter 140.
As shown, a liquid crystal layer 150 is also disposed in between the color filter 140 and another glass layer 160. The color filter 140 allows the selective control of color. As light 210 is propagate through the color filter 140, the signal strength of the light is once again reduced by approximately 70%, thereby creating light 220.
Light 220, after propagating through the liquid crystal layer 150 (selectively controlled to be either on/off related to an electronic coupling controlling the state of the liquid crystals), is propagated through the glass 160 and through a front polarizer 170. The front polarizer 170 compensates the polarization effects introduced by the rear polarizer 120. After which, light 220 is viewable by any viewer of the TFT LCD 100.
Heat 202 associated with this transformation of light is dissipated through the rear polarizer 120, the first glass layer 130, and the color filter 140 to the TFT LCD 100. The liquid crystal layer 150 has numerous crystals which are affected by the heat 202. If light 200 is of a certain strength, deleterious effects associated with overheating the liquid crystal cells 150 may be introduced, and ultimately effect the proper operation of the liquid crystals in the liquid crystal layer 150.
Each glass layer (glass layer 130 and glass layer 160) may effectively serve as a substrate associated with the TFT associated with individual control. For example, one layer may be employed to control content (i.e., whether a specific pixel is on/off) while another may be employed to control color. The TFT LCD 100 shown in FIG. 1 is exemplary, with the TFTs used to control content and color being interchangeable.